Over the past 24 hours we have been monitoring the spread of the Covid-19 virus closely. Yesterday, among the many announcements and decisions being made, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared this a pandemic. This is not a word they use frivolously. This determination is based upon irrefutable scientific data. The data confirms that this outbreak is going to increase exponentially over the next several days, weeks and months. As one infectious disease doctor stated, “People must understand that this is not the Covid-19 blizzard, but rather the Covid-19 winter. This isn’t blowing through over the next few days, it is going to be several months.”

Effective today, Friday, March 13, 2020, The Boston Bodyworker will close its doors

Our goal will be to re-open in 10 days, on Sunday, March 22, 2020. During this time, we will take all the appropriate measures to clean and disinfect our offices. If we have the opportunity to open sooner, we will be prepared to welcome the public back into our business and continue to help this community the best way we know how; through kindness and compassion.

As elected officials and community leaders scramble to do the difficult job of keeping the public safe and the load of the virus’s impact on our healthcare system begins to weigh down upon us, it is up to every individual to do what we can to distance ourselves socially from others until we know who is infected (#flattenthecurve). As a father, I sat down last evening to listen to my girls express their feelings about school being closed, performances, competitions and events being canceled that they have been working so hard to prepare for. We did our best to explain that all of us are going through something right now. We are all being forced to make and live with some hard choices. My wife and I could not expect them to understand the important impact that ‘social distancing’ will have on slowing the rate of growth of Corvid-19 and then tell them that The Boston Bodyworker would still remain open. If I have learned anything as a parent (and boss) over these past 15 years, our actions speak much louder than our words. My girls have seen me resurrect the practice after the market crash of 2008 and were by my side after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings. These were trying times indeed. If we expect the next generation to improve upon the mistakes of past generations, we must show them, through our own actions, that doing the right thing is ALWAYS the right thing to do!

The determination to close was based upon a single factor; public safety. 575 Boylston is open to so many who will be entering our building and using the same elevators to see the many doctors on the floors above. Many of whom who will be infected and contagious (and not even know it). Until we have the necessary testing kits, it is impossible to know if any one of us may already be infected. If we are able to evade just a single infection, data suggestthat we save 3-4 lives. There is no moral dilemma. A temporary shutdown is the only thing to do.

These next few months will be incredibly hard on our families, staff, business and community at large. When times like these test us, we have seen again and again, that, as communities come together, we become stronger as a society. I am confident that we will once again figure out a way to overcome this and forge ahead. Small businesses will bounce back. The economy will bounce back. We will bounce back. Until such time, I ask that we continue to be mindful of our surroundings, kind to others and respectful to difficult choices we will all have to make.

As always, I would like to thank you for your continued support of The Boston Bodyworker and understanding during these difficult and uncertain times. We will all get through this; together.